A blog dedicated to coverage of rock news, reviews of CD's/DVD's, live gigs and interviews with musicians who have made rock music great!
Coverage of hard rock, classic rock, AOR and popular melodic rock music across the genre.
This blog is the creation of Alun Williams, a Brit now living in Michigan whose previous credits include writing for the following sites:
www.classicrock.about.com
www.classicrockrevisited.com
and www.rocknrolluniverse.com (Now gone)
I hope you enjoy your visit here!

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Friday, May 7, 2010

Rock News for Thursday 6th May, 2010

Heaven and Hell 2010 Tour Dates cancelled

It seems something is not quite right in the Heaven and Hell (Dio era Black Sabbath) camp, who had set up a reasonable amount of European tour dates ahead in 2010, although it had previously been stated that all was dependant upon Ronnie James Dio making a full recovery from cancer.

"We have to announce that all forthcoming Heaven & Hell European shows have been cancelled as sadly Ronnie isn't well enough to tour this summer. We hope that everyone understands and want to thank fans and industry colleagues for their continuing support at this time."

Heaven & Hell - May 4th, 2010

Then you look at the Dio website and a message appears that perhaps could be interpreted, that Ronnie (himself) and Wendy Dio are perhaps not happy with this decision ...?

I would like to voice my great disappointment on the cancellation of the Heaven And Hell summer tour. Wendy, my doctors and I have worked so hard to make it happen for all of you, the ones we care so much about, that this set back could be devastating, but we will not let it be.

With your continued love and support, we ... will carry on and thrive.

There will be other tours, more music, more life and much more magic. RONNIE JAMES DIO

Interesting, watch this space I guess ...?!

UFO replace bass player

No, don't be thinking it's Pete Way that's been kicked out, nothing could be further from the truth. Although we all wonder when he may come out of the shadows, as it's been over a year since it was first announced of his illness for a liver complaint ...UFO at that time back in February 2009 posted this message:

For a while now, Pete has been dealing with a medical condition which affects his liver, and he's currently undergoing treatment to cure it. The medication he's on makes him tired and dizzy, and he feels that taking part in the recording sessions and the hectic touring schedule would be too much for him at the moment, so he'll be taking some time out from UFO until he is match-fit.But as we all know with Pete, he won't be able to stay away from rocknroll for long - so it's very likely that he'll be doing a few gigs here and there with Waysted.We all wish him the very best and hope for a swift and full recovery. We love ya Pete! Get well soon man.

No the latest news from the UFO camp is that tour bassist Barry Sparks has had to pull out due to a family member being seriously ill. This posted at UFO's website: After the show in Bruchsal, Barry Sparks sadly had to leave the tour to fly home to Arizona where a member of his family is seriously ill.Hannover's Peter Pichl, who played bass on The Visitor album, has immediately travelled to Osnabrück to stand in for Barry for the final three shows of this leg of the tour.Our love and best wishes go out to Barry and his family. http://www.ufo-music.info/news.htm
Not good news at all and I also wish Barry's family well.

Win a pair of tickets to go to the movies with Rob Halford!

Enter for your chance to join Rob Halford of Judas Priest and celebrate the 30th Anniversary of British Steel! Click here to sign up for a chance to win a pair of tickets to attend the May 10th screening of the 30th Anniversary of British Steel in NYC! The screening is at 7pm and winners will also have the opportunity to watch a live question and answer session with Rob!

As previously announced here, the original Asia line up will be touring the US from August and into September and the band has just announced the last date that they will add to their existing tour dates, in support of new album 'Omega.'

This from their website:Final Date Added To US Omega Tour - Thursday, 06 May 2010
One more date has been added to the band's itinerary:
Aug 23rd - Majestic Theatre, San Antonio, TXhttp://originalasia.com/index.php

The full US tour dates are as follows:August 2010
Aug 2nd - Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, New Bedford, MA

Yeah, one I missed while I was away, but when I saw it, I thought it was worth sharing, although quite who's involved besides Jason Bonham is beyond me.
Anyway, this was posted at: http://www.jasonbonham.net/diary.html

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience - April 30, 2010Well looks like the cat is out of the bag! First off, I would like to correct the news that broke today on the world wide web. I read today that I would be performing the Led Zep story! Well, what I will be doing is 30 shows in memory of my father, as its 30 years since he left this world this September 25th, 2010.

I have always loved playing the music of Led Zeppelin and after such a great night back in 2007 at the 02 Arena, I took an opportunity to do a very special show which would look at my life with the music of Led Zeppelin. Old photos, home movies and videos would help take you on a journey into my life, from my earliest memories right up to the 02 show .

There is still a lot of work to do on this project and I want to make sure it's done tastefully and with the detail it deserves! Thanks for all the emails and good wishes and even the bad ones, it all helps, really it does. - Cheers JB